The Daily Vault Review of ‘The Theory’ – 30/06/06

Gareth Thomas is a South African now living in Wales, but that's not important. What matters is that debut recording is an impressive self-produced progressive rock journey through many instrumental landscapes. Playing all instruments on these primarily guitar-centric songs, his compositions are powerful and cover a wide palate of sonic textures from spacey ambience to bone-crunching heavy metal.

Thomas expresses a wide range of influences; nods to prog voyagers Pink Floyd and Porcupine Tree cross paths with the likes of Metallica and Iron Maiden, as well as contemporary axe-slingers like Steve Vai and Joe Satriani. You might even catch a stylistic nuance of Alex Lifeson and David Gilmour.

One of the pitfalls I have run into with this type of music is the tendency to pile on layer after layer of instrumentation until it's so busy the listener loses focus. Thomas avoids this trap while still interweaving multiple guitar tracks and some tastefully restrained keys to create a full, rich sound that never becomes too dense to appreciate the careful arrangements.

At its core, this disc is a celebration of the guitar. The title track starts off dreamy and low key with some Gilmour-esque sustain-drenched guitar over a thrumming bass line that slowly fades out, only to return in a full-on speed metal barrage. "Elevation" begins as a moody synth trip, slowly building in intensity until Thomas pulls all the stops for some maniacal riffing and an incredibly juicy solo (yes, the whole disc is a solo, but I didn't know how else to describe it). The closing track, aptly titled "The End," is a prog-metal tour-de-force wherein Thomas gracefully travels from ethereal ambience to crushing heavy metal riffing and back again effortlessly.

Throughout the disc, Thomas shows a powerful yet controlled mastery of his instrument with his evocative and melodic solos, using the voice of the guitar to segue from the more ambient moments into rich melody and blistering fretwork without it ever sounding forced.

While it meanders and loses focus now and again, The Theory features superb musicianship from Gareth Thomas. It's a pleasure to hear a talented musician work his craft.

Written by Bruce Rusk, © The Daily Vault

The Metal Observer Review of ‘The Theory’ – 30/06/06

Rating – 4/5

This is one man’s one year and a half long dedication, showing his composition skills in the instrumental Rock/Metal world while wearing his vast array of influences on his sleeves.

More often than not, promotional tools and band websites contain nothing but hyperbolae and grossly exaggerated statements, but the claims of “layered guitar harmonies” and “subtle textures” on the man’s website are absolutely true.

This is a very melodic release, with the compositional mood of Classical composers, with the songs developing at the start and slowly building a climax to get to the finish. The subtle changes in musical style help with this goal, as a very slow and ballad-like song will contain a pretty heavy section that fits with the general theme of the song, but be distinct.

That’s one of the great things about this album. It goes from genre to genre subtly, building and releasing tension as the songs play on. Gareth Thomas saw the big picture when writing the music for this, as he did not simply write the songs to just stand out on their own, but to make sure they had their place in the whole of the album.

Well, the one song where this doesn’t work that well is “The Theory”. Ten minutes long, first half being an atmospheric, open and spacey bit, it goes off into Metal territory, then it has a dark acoustic outro, very similar to early Opeth’s acoustic stuff. Now, just in this song, those three sections feel like they’ve been stuck together by duct tape, as the transition between the three moods doesn’t feel right. It’s the only song where this problem occurs, though.

And his guitar playing? Hell, next to Slash and Steve Vai, I haven’t heard someone make his or her guitar SING like that in AGES. It’s jaw-dropping, the emotion that oozes out of this man’s playing.

It’s a very diverse, melodic and thought-out release. The production isn’t perfect, but for a demo, it’s pretty good. Strongly recommended if you enjoy instrumental stuff.

Written by Armen J, © The Metal Observer

Metal4Life Review of ‘The Theory’ – 06/04/06

Rating – 4/5

It’s a remarkable thing for somebody to produce an entire album themselves, from writing the songs, to recording and producing the material. Gareth Thomas is responsible for the work that went into his first solo project called ‘The Theory’. This is an expression of his music tastes from his love for heavy metal and progressive rock with strong ambient awareness. These aspects give this music an altogether pleasant sound that is both original and professional.

Originating in South Africa, Gareth spent his first ten years in sunnier climes before moving with his family to Wales where he had remained until now. A lifetime of musical instruction has produced a talented musician that is dedicated to his art.

After splitting as guitarist with former Welsh progressive outfit, Sanction, Gareth dove into completing ‘The Theory’ and now presents ten tracks that truly do lead the listener on a musical journey that lasts just shy of an hour. Gareth’s own description of the music is Ambient Progressive Rock, which is pretty much the best way to describe this.

The varied mix of styles ranges from heavier guitars, progressive periods and slower moody parts intermingled with a series of emotionally charged atmosphere that displayed Gareth’s ability to write music and play instruments.

‘The Theory’ demonstrates Gareth’s vast potential and where he goes from here will be a trip for any fans to relish as he produces more material.

Written by Stephen Holder, © Metal4Life Magazine

Rock Midgets Review of ‘The Theory’ – 01/04/06

Rating – 4/5

Gareth Thomas is an interesting character. South African and Welsh, classically trained in piano and a master on fretless bass, Economics graduate and rockstar... All of these contradictions sum up one of Britain's only metal-inspired musical virtuosos.

While bands like Stratovarius and Rhapsody are making progressive metal concertos popular in Europe Gareth Thomas is unknown. Until now. Skipping that important rite of passage of finding a band 'Garfo' is going solo, creating a prog rock masterpiece on his own. He masterfully executes the whole shebang from flawless guitar instrumentals, bombastic rhythms and electronic tweaks and wizardry.

The title track 'The Theory' borrows from all sides of the rock spectrum from Metallica to UFO to Pink Floyd. Although this is an instrumental opus you don't miss the presence of a vocalist, the music is enough to tell a story alone. This maybe at the softer side of rock or metal but it is certainly still comparable to music being made by bands such as Opeth, who are currently at the forefront of pushing the boundaries of progressive rock. Even a bit of Sigur Ros is present in The Theory and like Icelandic wonders Gareth Thomas will become one of those artists that it is painfully cool to like and even cooler to know about. His name will be whispered throughout arty cafes from Brighton to Hoxton to Glasgow. To be in the know, you need to contact the man himself and buy yourself some brownie points the next time you are out with your muso friends.

Written by Louise Brown, © Rock Midgets Magazine

Sugarbuzz Magazine Review of ‘The Theory’ – 25/02/06

You rarely get great quality instrumental albums anymore unless it’s off a movie soundtrack and even then they don’t have that epic rock sound. Stand up then Gareth Thomas, South African born but now resident of South Wales and rock guitar god in the making.

Harking back to the classic days of Mike Oldfield and Pink Floyd he is aiming to resuscitate the purely instrumental end of the rock spectrum with his self-described ‘Ambient Progressive Rock’ style. From the sound of this album he’s done this.

Sounding like the instrumental version of Guns N’ Roses with a dash of epic Metallica it never overpowers quite possibly because there’s no vocalist grunting down the microphone at you. He retains the power of music whilst as he hopes for keeping it quite ambient.

Give him a few years and his skills will easily rival any of the best guitarists currently out there. The skills he shows on track 2 ‘Cross of Fire’ alone could be from someone with 10 years more experience than him.

It’s really mind-blowing stuff. He manages to mix up the styles so in one song alone like title track ‘The Theory’ he goes from an eerie ‘Twin Peaks’ feel that sends shivers up your spine to full on rock riffs and then moves on to a more laid back Spanish style picking. ‘Majestic 12’ even has a Harpsichord Tudor style opening which then lays way to a full on metal onslaught.

This really is intriguing and original sounding music. It should appeal to all lovers of guitar music whether you prefer your music laid-back or a little more hardcore.

Written by Lydia Clare, © Sugarbuzz Magazine

Heavy Metal Appreciation Society Review of 'The Theory' – 18/02/2006

Rating – 8/10

Here we have a classy and interesting instrumental from a man named Gareth Thomas, who has forgone the distractions of being in a band and struck out to do it all on his own, and I say why not, good job.

The music available on this album sweeps a great range of styles and moods. Feeling laid back and want to chill out? There’s a track here for you. Or perhaps you feel like banging your head a bit to some chugging riffs? Well there’s that here as well. As cited by the man himself and is evident in the music, influences for him and this album range from Metallica to Pink Floyd and it all melds together rather pleasingly.

The high point for me would have to be “Elevation” which is a nice mix of the two opposites, it starts off with some really heartfelt mellow sounds and then halfway through kicks into a meaty old school metal song with a killer solo that would sit in nicely in any of the old school acts, And yet after this the song falls back into a sorrowful yet calm melody and then again into a more metal solo.

It’s these changes and the fact they feel natural and smooth instead of forced that make this song the top track on the album. I will mention that there were odd moments throughout the album that my attention wandered, this was because it felt like either some parts went on too long and repeated somewhat or that they didn’t seem right. Now I say this with little harshness because it is only a small problem that crops up now and then and maybe if the listener is in a different mood then these parts would continue to hold ones attention, I shall leave that up to listener discretion.

On the whole this album is a great piece that shows the first work of an instrumentalist that could go on to do brilliant things musically later on, and I shall wait patiently for the next instalment of music by Gareth Thomas, oh yes indeed.

Written by Josh Ahearne, © HMAS.ORG